Plastic waste transformed into hydrogen for cars
Mobility — di Carlotta Garancini
A group of scientists has succeeded in converting plastic waste into pure hydrogen, which in turn could be used to power next-generation vehicles.
Plastic waste transformed into hydrogen for cars
A group of scientists has succeeded in converting plastic waste into pure hydrogen, which in turn could be used to power next-generation vehicles.
The enormous quantity of plastic waste we produce every day is one of the greatest environmental problems we find ourselves having to face in our time. Waste that must be disposed of, preferably through ecological processes, and that, otherwise, goes on to pollute soils and seas with all the dramatic consequences that follow. For this reason, in recent years, all over the world, innovators and scientists have sought new recycling solutions and more to address the emergency. And the latest comes from a group of chemists at the University of Swansea, in the United Kingdom, who have devised a simple, low-energy process of solar reforming of plastics that makes it possible to transform waste into pure hydrogen.
I rifiuti di plastica inquinano i mari di tutto il mondo ©IngimageThe experiment
The research was published in the journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC): the scientists added a light-absorbing substance to three common polymers – polylactic acid, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyurethane – then dissolved them in an alkaline solution and exposed them to sunlight or a solar light simulator. In this way, the plastic particles underwent a transformation into other molecules, including hydrogen molecules.
During the process, which works at ambient pressure and temperature, organic products such as formate, acetate and pyruvate were also generated, as well as a substance that can be used to produce new plastic. A further key aspect is that, in order to undergo solar reforming, the plastic does not necessarily need to be clean (indeed, the presence of grease or oil would actually improve the process), thereby increasing the quantity of material that can be reused and reducing recycling costs.
Hydrogen for cars
The work still requires a few more years of testing at industrial scale, but in the not-too-distant future one can imagine how the hydrogen produced could be used to power next-generation, fully eco-friendly cars, such as Toyota's Mirai. The Japanese carmaker's hydrogen saloon runs on fuel cell technology and reduces CO2 emissions to zero, producing only water vapour.
